The Oregon State University Extension Service has hired a new agent for the south Willamette Valley.

Oregon State University’s College of Agricultural Sciences has named a new south Willamette Valley extension agent.

Clare Sullivan, who holds a master’s degree in soil science from the University of Saskatchewan, brings a diverse portfolio to her position, said Russ Karow, head of the Department of Crop and Soil Science at OSU.

“Among the things that attracted us to her is she has a broad range of experience,” Karow said. “She’s done some IPM (integrated pest management) work, where she was working with horticultural crops. She has done work looking at greenhouse gases and soil fertility in cereal-legume crop rotations, and she has taught classes.”

Sullivan also spent a year in Spain on an exchange program, Karow said, and is fluent in technical Spanish.

“That was another real advantage we saw,” Karow said. The extension service offers some Spanish language training in horticultural crops and is hoping to extend that to field crops, Karow said.

Sullivan succeeds Paul Marquardt, who left earlier this year after serving less than a year in the position. Sullivan will begin June 16.

Sullivan’s responsibilities will include field crops extension activities and applied research in Linn, Benton and Polk counties, with limited responsibilities in Marion and Clackamas counties, according to Karow.

With Sullivan’s addition, the extension service now has two field-crop agents serving the Willamette Valley.

“The grander vision is still to ultimately have three field-cropping systems agronomists doing county-level activity here in the valley,” Karow said.

Sullivan obtained her master’s degree in 2012. She earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of British Columbia in 2007.

Twenty-eight people applied for the position, Karow said.

- See more at: http://www.capitalpress.com/Oregon/20140505/osu-extension-hires-new-agent-for-south-valley#sthash.i1HgYzbu.dpuf

Slugs Remain a Mystery

Despite their close familiarity with the slimy pests, farmers in Oregon’s Willamette Valley continue to be baffled by slugs.

Growers and researchers recently puzzled over the mollusk’s onslaught against numerous crops during Oregon State University’s “Slug Summit,” held March 25 in Salem.

New pest discovered in Oregon clover fields.

A pest new to the Pacific Northwest may be causing yield losses in clover grown for seed.Casebearer moths, native to Europe, were first sound in North America in the 1960's, when the moth was found in the New York state and Eastern Canada, according to Oregon State University Extension agent Nicole Anderson.

In 2012, a Canadian graduate student asked Anderson if she would put out some pheromone traps to see if the pest was present in Oregon. Anderson agreed to place traps in three fields, although she didn't think she'd find the pest here. To her surprise, Anderson found the pest in every trap."we literally stumbled upon the pest," she said.